“Taken” Review

Anytime a movie is as heavily marketed as “Taken” I get a little suspicious. Action movies that get this much attention usually end up being over the top, bank busting, and god awful flicks. Fortunately, “Taken” succeeds where many of the aforementioned films failed.

“Taken” has a pretty generic story line. A loved one is kidnapped and the person who loves them the most sets out to single-handedly save them. “Taken” takes this plot to a modern level and adds some pretty dark elements. I would go into more detail but then you wouldn’t have to see the movie.

As far as acting is concerned, this is not Liam Neeson’s best work. In my opinion his best acting to date was “Schindler’s List”. This being said, he does play a great middle aged bad ass and the performance in general is pretty darn good. Neeson does a great job of not portraying his character, Bryan Mills, as a pure adrenaline junky. He adds moments of exhaustion and anguish to the character that I think separates movies like “Taken” and the Bourne films from other action movies. He sells himself as an ex-killing machine perfectly but keeps the performance grounded enough to allow the audience to still believe his acting.

I would love to talk about all the other actors in “Taken” but this movie is about 90% Neeson and 10% everybody else. There are a couple good actors in there, Famke Janssen and Leland Orser, but they don’t have much screen time. Plus, any other character that is introduced to us is either killed or disappears. Simply put, Liam Neeson is the only actor who has enough face time to be talked about.

What makes Neeson’s character Mills stand out is not his Bourne style takedowns but his wit. There are about three scenes where in order to accomplish his goal Mills talks instead of throwing some haymakers. He has the uncanny ability to negotiate or flat out lie in order to get what he wants. Even during these talky scenes you find yourself on the edge of your seat.

The action in this film is good. They do a great job of submersing you in the heat of the film. There are moments where you cringe away from the screen or find yourself bobbing and weaving in your seat as you dodge the punches of the evil Albanian. There are good car chase scenes, some butt kicking death sequences and some unexpected moments.

However, there are some major flaws with the film. Actually, the film has one repetitive major flaw, inconsistency. There will be moments that you won’t see coming and this is where the movie excels. There are a couple punches, shots, and lines that just hit you upside the head…in a good way. But for every excellent unpredictable moment there is a very cheesy predictable one. Also, there is a major inconsistency with just how good Mills is. Some moments he appears to be a normal ex-black ops guy (normal is a relative term) but then there are moments when he seems like Superman. The best example of this is that in the beginning of the movie Mills stops chasing a man when the man jumps from a highway overpass to a parked flat bed truck that happens to be carrying cushions. Mills stands and watches as the man gets away. Then later Mills has no trouble jumping from a bridge to a moving steam boat, somersaulting, and disarming a guy…all at once. The filmmakers made a conscience effort to show Mills rubbing his eyes in exhaustion, but in the very next scene they will have him doing unbelievable feats.

The acting and fight chorography are all good. Yet, the writing is cheesy at times and the young inexperienced directing might have hurt “Taken” a little bit. For quality I give “Taken” 7 out of 10.

The entertainment in “Taken” is great. The action is good, there’s an explosion or two, moments of well placed humor, and some decent suspense. Ultimately what holds you attention is Liam Neeson and the question of “What is this butt kicking lunatic going to do next???” For entertainment I give “Taken” 9 out of 10.

Summary: While “Taken” is a quality action movie, it is not as well made as the Bourne movies. The filmmakers tried to make a realistic and serious action film but are one or two sequences too cheesy and too over the top to succeed. “Taken” is a good action movie but is nothing groundbreaking.

Grade: B

Matt Robinson

5 Responses

Kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way! Liam really kicks @$$. And he DID warn the Albanians not to mess with him! I wonder what happened to his daughter’s friend? Did they just leave her there?

I was wondering about the same thing. Did nobody bother to tell her family what happened? He really just left her there even though he helped some strange girl earlier? After the movie ended the first thing a person said behind me was “poor Amanda”…I chuckled a little at that.

And who was driving the boat at the end while everybody was being killed?

One of the most racist films to be produced in America over the last year. Simple story line – young white female US virgin goes on holiday to Paris (France), but is kidnapped for the sex trade by those evil Russians, who pass her on to the even more evil Albanians, who sell her off to the source of evil, a rich Arab (of course!). Wonderful racial sterio typing – the sort the Nazis perfected 60 years ago.

Of course our all American hero – the girls father – kills and tortures his way though each of the gangs to save his daughter – still intact.

I think the dead chick in bed that Liam checked for pulse was her friend though they obviously did a horrible job of letting us know that.

BTW, Did anyone else notice the absurd boat chase? I mean come on.. Liam jumps in a high-performance sports car and does 100+ in and out of traffic chasing a boat doing canal speed- for like ten minutes!

I was rolling on the floor laughing.

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